Apple and Google embody two alternative models of capitalism
theatlantic.com
Apple and Google embody two alternative models of capitalism
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Re: Apple and Google embody two alternative models of capitalism
#2> they embody two alternative models of capitalism, and the one that wins out will shape the future of the economy.
Even in such a vague form, this is a touch sensationalist. The impact of 'the one that wins' may be negligible. There also may be no winner.
Re: Apple and Google embody two alternative models of capitalism
#3I don't respect any article about the future of economy that does not take into consideration climate change, sustainability and the anthropocene. Capitalism will have to change dramatically soon, our world is collapsing. But sure. let's talk about apple vs google. I am not a fan of capitalism, but I'm not even criticizing capitalism per se, only that all big companies nowadays are existing in a world and way of producing that will for sure destroy itself in at max 100 years. So that is the future. Not Apple way of managing. I feel like saying wake up sheepele, because that's how it feels reading an article like that. I have no idea what will happen and hope for the best, but let's start accepting that we know major changes are needed and are going to happen whether we plan them or not. Climate change/mass extinction/deforestation/etc is not just about polar bears, is about our energy and ways of consumption and production of goods.
Re: Apple and Google embody two alternative models of capitalism
#4"Google is, like Apple, making loads of money. From 2013 to March 2017, it generated $114 billion in operating cash flow. How much has the company distributed to shareholders? In contrast to Apple’s 72 percent payout rate, Google has only distributed 6 percent of that money to shareholders."
Apple is way older than Google, maybe this has an influence in both diff. approaches...
Re: Apple and Google embody two alternative models of capitalism
#5When I read the title I thought about the difference that Apple is selling to users and Google to advertisers. These are two different ways of capitalisms, too.
Re: Apple and Google embody two alternative models of capitalism
#6tldr: Google founders have more voting rights than Apple executives. In case you didn't know, this impacts corporate behavior, especially dividends.
I thought this would be about the way each interacted with customers, which is far more interesting.
Re: Apple and Google embody two alternative models of capitalism
#7It's worth mentioning on a post like this that there is no legal (or historical) basis for the idea that maximizing shareholder value is the primary concern of a corporation. See these two sources:
https://hbr.org/2010/04/the-myth-of-shareholder-capitalism
[pdf] http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?artic...
Re: Apple and Google embody two alternative models of capitalism
#8> More importantly, though, how do these strategies impact the lives of everyday people? A capitalist system aims for the efficient allocation of capital, and indeed, workers have a better shot at seeing median wages increase when money is being put to its most productive use. So to an extent, how they fare under each system has to do with who is deciding where and how profits get invested. When managers reallocate profits, that reallocation benefits from the capabilities and knowledge that companies have built over decades, but suffers from the possibly poor incentives of managers. When investors are the ones reallocating profits, however, the scope of the reallocation can be broader, theoretically leading to more innovation; at the same time, those investors don’t have preexisting organisational capabilities and they may suffer from their own short-term time horizons.
In the end the economist unwillingly reveals that the actual ramifications are highly theoretical (bordering on non-sense) and and leaves the reader only to conclude that this won't as stated "decide the future of capitalism". In discussing the future economy I would be much more inclined to ask: "How do we create a model where wealth and power is distributed broadly across society?", "What constitute infrastructure in a modern economy?", "How do know we aren't underperforming?" and so on.
Re: Apple and Google embody two alternative models of capitalism
#9[deleted]
Re: Apple and Google embody two alternative models of capitalism
#10The issue with yielding to investors is that investors are primarily interested in making money for themselves, rather than growing the companies they are investing in. An investor will always vote to have large companies take loans in order to purchase the hundreds of millions of dollars worth shares they just purchased back a 25% increase over their current market value, or get a lump sum in the form of the newly issued dividends as it was in Apple's case. And then they take the money they made, reinvest in another large company they can leverage and do it again.
There's absolutely no reason to seek growth based returns which carry risk while this approach is available. Dividends and stock-buybacks represent a no-value-created system of incentives for the richest people in the world, directly extracting the surplus value of laborers at the expense of workers and long-term investors. Only when a company starts to topple does there seem to be any interest in moving into new markets or improving their existing lines of business.